30 to 1

Clean Air Act of 1970: Benefits-to-costs ratio: 30 to 1.

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990: Benefits-to-costs ratio: 30 to 1.

Average across all Environmental Protection Agency rules passed between 2000 and 2010: Benefits-to-costs ratio: 10 to 1.

That should be cause for celebration, shouldn't it?

Not quite.

Any benefit-to-cost ratio above one means that benefits exceed costs. That's good, of course, but the goal isn't to maximize that ratio. The goal ought to be to come as close as possible to 1:1.

Ratios of 10:1 and above point to real inefficiencies: Too many costs are being socialized. EPA isn't doing nearly enough to protect us from ourselves.